Bayonets: An Illustrated History

Rating:
Summary: Hundreds of Bayonets from all Over the World
Review: The bayonet has not been an effective military weapon since the days of Napoleon. But every military incorporates a bayonet into their latest fully automatic assault weapon and trains their soldiers in their use. In part this is incorporated into military training, I can remember the drill sergeants teaching us to scream, "The spirit of the bayonet is to kill."

In reality, I think that if you are spending your days camping out in the woods you find a knife to be invaluable. And if you have a knife, it just as well may have the capability of being attached to the end of your rifle (and a bayonet clip is one of the characteristics that define an Assault Rifle in the US). In turn, bayonets have become collectible items in themselves.

In this book, Martin Brayley provides an extensive and in-depth examination of bayonets from 37 countries all around the world, over 300 bayonets in all! He starts with an early plug bayonet, hard to say what rifle it fit as it would work with any rifle of the proper caliber. Then he goes on to the ring or socket bayonets of the 1700's, and from their through the bolt actions of all militaries and on to today's latest designs.